Modern supermarkets and stores contain large polished opened flooring in ranges from 40,000 square feet to 120,000 square feet and above. Typically, these floors are tile covered and polished or burnished with a finish that shines and gives the store a safe, clean appearance.
To maintain such floors, a four-step process is required by the prior art. First, the floor is typically dry dust mopped to clear the floor of large debris and dust. Second, the floor is scrubbed, usually with an automatic scrubber. The automatic scrubber dispenses detergent onto the floor, scrubs, and thereafter squeegees and vacuums the detergent from the floor. After the scrubbing step, the floor is polished or burnished with a buffer. Finally, after the polishing or burnishing, the floor is again dust mopped to pick up fine debris left in the wake of the polishing or burnishing operation.
Each of these discrete steps consumes time and labor. For example, utilizing machinery having a 27-inch-wide path, dry mopping can consume five minutes per thousand square feet of floor per employee. Likewise, scrubbing can consume seven minutes per thousand square feet of floor per employee. Similarly, polishing or burnishing can consume seven minutes per thousand square feet of floor per employee. Finally, the final mopping after burnishing or polishing can consume five minutes per thousand square feet per employee. Thus, 1000 square feet of floor can require up to 24 minutes per thousand square feet of employee time during regular scrubbing and polishing cycles.
It is to be noted that the above description of labor does not include so-called “double scrub” and “strip” cycles. In these latter cycles, the scrubber first dispenses detergent, scrubs with the detergent, and then leaves the detergent to dwell on the floor for a specific period of time. Thereafter, scrubbing is repeated with the detergent being gathered and recovered by the scrubber. Between the respective scrubbings, dry mopping is not utilized.
In Fields U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,305 issued Feb. 14, 1995, I have combined the polishing and burnishing cycle with the second dry mopping cycle. Simply stated, I disclose a polishing and vacuuming apparatus having a revolving head surrounded by a skirt which biases to and towards the floor. The skirt is provided with a series of serrated slits angularly inclined with respect to the rotating polishing and burnishing brush. The slits draw air from the exterior of the burnishing apparatus through the skirt into the interior of the burnishing apparatus at the skirt. Thereafter, by providing the combination of a deflector and a vacuum apparatus, I gather to a micro filter vacuum bag the dust and debris generated by the polishing and burnishing operation. This improvement to the polishing and burnishing operation has experienced commercial success and eliminated approximately five minutes of labor per thousand square feet of floor maintained assuming 27-inch-wide polishing equipment is used.
To date, there has been no equivalent improvement to the wet scrubbing operation.
Automated floor sweepers are known. In one such sweeper, counter-rotating conical brushes are used on the sweeper ends. These brushes each rotate about vertical axes at opposite sides of the sweeper. Sweeping of the counter-rotating brushes occurs at a central ramp which typically is maintained a small constant distance above the floor. In some cases, a large cylindrical brush rotating about a horizontal axis in front of the debris ramp cooperates with the counter-rotating conical brushes to sweep large debris up the ramp and into a collector. No vacuuming provision is made for the collection of dust.
Unfortunately, it is my experience that such sweepers are inadequate when utilized immediately before a scrubbing operation. Specifically, they are successful in collecting the large debris only and constitute a separate operation adding additional labor. They also lack the ability to collect fine particles and dust. Uncollected fine particles and dust give a “mud like” appearance to the floor in the wake of the wet scrubbing apparatus and constitute a serious degradation to the floor maintenance cycle. As a consequence, conventional dry mopping is almost always used before a floor scrubbing operation.
There have been attempts to combine the dry mopping, scrubbing, and polishing and burnishing operation. Machines making such combinations have at least three problems. First, where the machines are battery operated, conventional battery operation has difficulty in simultaneously powering the sweeping, scrubbing, and polishing apparatus. In order to enable these three steps to be simultaneously powered from the same battery pack, machines of reduced width are required. As of this disclosure, combined sweeping, scrubbing, and polishing and/or burnishing machines have a width which does not exceed 20 inches due to the energy required to run sweeping, scrubbing, and polishing and/or burnishing operations simultaneously.
Second, such machines are long with all three components in a straight line, one after the other. They do not operate efficiently on sharp turns such as those required to pass around the counter ends between aisles. A separate maneuver is required to align such machines for each pass down the floor aisles between the counters. Wasted time and energy results.
Third, polishing and burnishing directly after scrubbing requires additional time. Since such machines are series machines, they can proceed at a speed no greater than the efficiency of the slowest component. In this case, it is the slow polishing cycle immediately after wet scrubbing the floor. For example, and utilizing a 20-inch machine, polishing and burnishing immediately after scrubbing results in the polishing and burnishing operation occurring on a semi dry surface. This semi dry surface can require up to 15 minutes per thousand square feet per employee with such a machine. The efficiency originally sought in the combined pre-sweeping, scrubbing and polishing and/or burnishing is not realized.